


study break

by londer



Category: A Crown of Candy - Fandom, Dimension 20
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, D20 Treat, F/F, First Date, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londer/pseuds/londer
Summary: "Do you mind if I sit here?" Cara asks. The girl doesn't say anything, doesn't even look up from her laptop. It's probably fine, then. The library is absolutely packed to bursting during midterms and it's the only reasonably free space she's found. She sits at the chair diagonally across from the girl, starts unpacking her bag.
Relationships: Caramelinda Rocks/Lazuli Rocks
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	study break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verdent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdent/gifts).



> This was the other prompt for my assignment (caramelinda/lazuli: modern au meet-cute) and I really love cara/laz so I decided to write it also :)  
> you can find me on tumblr 

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Cara asks. The girl doesn't say anything, doesn't even look up from her laptop. It's probably fine, then. The library is absolutely packed to bursting during midterms and it's the only reasonably free space she's found. She sits at the chair diagonally across from the girl, starts unpacking her bag. 

When she goes to plug her laptop charger in, the girl's head jerks up and Cara quickly pulls her hand back. The girl pulls an AirPod out of one ear and blinks rapidly, clearly startled. "Um," she says, but Cara's already moving to put her laptop away. 

"Sorry, I asked but you didn't say anything, I can go." 

"No!" The girl says quickly, waving her hands. "It's - you're fine. I was super zoned in, totally didn't hear you. Please, stay." 

"Okay," Cara says. She sets her laptop back down on the table and plugs in her charger. "Thanks." The girl nods and pops her earbud back in. Cara would take a minute to stare at her because she's really pretty, dark skin and long braids with blue streaked through them, but she really does have to get going on this art history essay. 

\-- 

She sees the girl again at the opening of the new exhibit at the school museum. Cara's there as a student guide, answering questions and politely rubbing elbows with some of the donors. The blue-haired girl is there in a silvery top and tight black pants. Cara hands her a pamphlet as she heads into the gallery and the girl pauses, taps the papers against her palm. 

"Library, right?" She asks Cara, and Cara just kind of nods. She's been recognized for worse. "How'd the essay go?" 

"Alright," Cara says, and it had, Professor Cadbury had some nice things to say about her interpretation of lions in Babylonian wall carvings. "Sorry, I don't think I know your name." 

"Lazuli. Lazuli Rocks," Lazuli says, offers her a hand to shake. Her palm is a little rough and warm. "You're Caramelinda Meringue, right?" 

"Um, yes," Cara says. It's a bit weird, but not too weird, to be recognized by name. It's a small campus, everybody sort of knows each other. "But it's just Cara. Nobody calls me Caramelinda except a couple stubborn profs." 

"Cara, then," Lazuli says. Her eyes are the same brilliant blue as her hair, and Cara wonders if that's their real color or just contacts. "Anything in the exhibit I shouldn't miss?" 

"There's a really beautiful landscape tucked in the back nook," Cara says immediately. It's a damn shame that it's been placed back there. She spent a long hour arguing with the head curator but hadn't been able to budge him on it. "It could be the centerpiece of any gallery, but it's hiding in the back. Past the painting of a really phallic eggplant." 

Lazuli smiles and she's so, so beautiful for it. "I'll check it out." 

\--

It's Cara's own damn fault for putting off her math distribution requirement until her senior fall. She's an art history major, she's never going to need to do multivariable calculus in her daily life. If she ever did for whatever reason, she would just use an online calculator like a sensible person. 

But here she is, slogging and suffering her way through Calc III and she is not letting this miserable class drag down her average. So when a pset nearly makes her cry she stamps down her pride and goes to the math help room hours. 

Laz is there in the classroom, sitting on a table and chatting away with a few other students. She looks up when Cara walks in and her face splits into a brilliant smile. "Cara!" 

"Lazuli," Cara says and her stomach is a pit of rocks because she'd rather not deal with a very pretty girl when she's seconds away from throwing her textbook at a wall and sobbing. "I didn't know - do you work here?" 

"Oh, god no," Lazuli says and she seems so chill and relaxed, the very antithesis of the math help room vibe. "My lab's across the hall and I'm waiting for a batch of samples to run, thought I'd come hang out. Are you here for helproom?" 

"Oh," Cara says. She hates the thick bubble of snot and tears that is pressed inside of her throat and threatening to burst. "Yes." 

"Laz, don't bother her," says Citrina. She's the TA for Cara's class. Cara hadn't even noticed her sitting at the table Lazuli is currently sitting on. "Cara, is this the pset for Uvano's class?" 

"Um, yes," Cara says. She goes and sits at the table with all of the, digs her notebook out of her bag. "I don't understand how to do number three." 

"Nobody does," Citrina says, but her tone makes it sound like it's a fun secret. It's kind of soothing. She's a good TA like that. "Half the class has been in for it. Here, show me what you've got and I'll nudge you towards the right direction." 

Cara hands her her notebook and Citrina scans over her work, nods encouragingly. "Yeah, you've almost got it! You need to use trig substitution, though, and not integration by parts. I know it looks like it should be by parts, but it's not, it's a total fakeout." 

"Oh," Cara says. "Okay." She starts to work in her notebook and it does seem like it's going somewhere productive. 

"That should be cosine," Lazuli's warm voice is right in Cara's ear and she jolts away in surprise. "Shit, sorry, Cara." Lazuli pulls away from where she was leaning in close to look at her work, having moved off the table and into the chair beside Cara at some point. "Didn't mean to scare you. You should use cosine there to make a tangent with that sine so you can cancel them out." 

\--

She sees Lazuli next at a party that Amethar is throwing in his dorm room. He's living in the old residential director suite with Cal, so they've got their own living room and kitchenette, perfect for parties. It's a beautiful space with real crown molding and wood paneling, and it's warm and full of people. Amethar is guarding the drinks table - he takes parties and drink safety really seriously - and he pours her a cup of something called _pink panty dropper_. 

"Having a good night?" He asks. Someone else might think that he's flirting, but Cara knows the man's as straight as a crazy straw. She just nods and smiles, takes a sip of the drink (it's disgustingly sweet and she can nearly feel tomorrow's hangover already) and tugs her skirt down a little bit as she moves away from the table.

"Hey," comes Lazuli's voice from behind her, and she turns. Lazuli looks ridiculously hot, and Cara carefully doesn't stare at all the exposed skin peeking out from her little red dress. "Cara!" 

"Hey," Cara says. Is she drunk yet? Maybe not. Is she tipsy enough to flirt? Maybe. "You look really good, wow." 

Lazuli poses a little. "Aw, thanks babe." Amethar hands her a drink and Lazuli tucks her arm into Cara's and pulls her into the party. They dance for a quick minute before both realizing that neither of them is that kind of party goer, so they end up sitting together on one of the armchairs. Lazuli sits on the chair and Cara sits on one armrests and slings her legs across the other. She has to lean close to hear Lazuli talk over the music and the hubbub of all the people in the room, but Cara doesn't mind one bit. Lazuli tells her about her neuroscience research and they swap stories about their time abroad - Lazuli did a semester in Peru, Cara did a summer internship in Austria doing museum conservation work. 

They zone into each other in a way that feels like magic, are some of the last people to leave. Lazuli offers to walk Cara back to her dorm, but they're going in opposite directions so she just gives Lazuli her number instead, so they can be sure they both get home safe. 

_Hey it's laz_ pops up on her phone as soon as she rounds the corner to head home. 

_This is cara :)_

_\--_

Laz can see the bright gold of Cara's hair through the window of the coffeeshop and hurries out of the snow and through the door into the warm cinnamon spice air. Cara looks up as the bell dings above the door and her whole face and her shoulders relax when she sees Laz. She's so absurdly beautiful it makes Laz's chest hurt to look at her sometimes. Cara's in this darling little pink cardigan and she's cradling a wide-cupped cappuccino in her small hands. Laz studies the human brain but science still can't explain precisely why looking at a beautiful person she has a terrible crush on makes her heart flip-flop like this. 

"Hey," Laz says, drops into the seat across from Cara. "I'm so sorry I'm late, one of the lab mice gave birth unexpectedly. They're not supposed to have babies," she says quickly when Cara looks surprised. "We're still not sure how this one got pregnant."

"Immaculate conception?" Cara suggests primly and this is only their first date but Laz's whole body is already in love with her smile and her wit and her mind.


End file.
